Who's your daddy?....

No 'Ike Turner Day' in St. Louis (AP)

Music legend Ike Turner said he holds nothing against St. Louis' mayor for a decision not to issue a City Hall proclamation in his honor. Mayor Francis Slay has turned down a request from organizers of the Big Muddy Blues Festival to make Sept. 2 "Ike Turner Day." Turner, 75, is scheduled to perform that day at the blues festival in St. Louis. Turner says he never asked for the honor. He notes he already has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and said he doesn't worry about whether he's given those honors. "I just care about making people happy in the audience," he said.

Turner's past troubles include a 17-month stint in jail on a 1990 drug conviction. He was depicted as an abusive husband in "What's Love Got to Do With It," a 1993 movie about ex-wife Tina Turner's life. Ike Turner admitted in his autobiography that he had hit his former wife, but said the movie depiction is what hurt his career. "All I can say, and I would say this only to her, is `I'm sorry,'" he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Sunday's edition. "But I can't undo yesterday. I don't owe anybody else that." The mayor suggested, through a spokesman, that Ike Turner could visit a St. Louis center that provides services to domestic violence victims to call attention to the issue.

Rufus Reid at Bushnell Park Monday night...

Paul Brown's Monday Night Jazz Series at Bushnell Park
Rufus Reid website

Is this town big enough for Lucinda and Sarah?...

We are leaving for home on Sunday, so we will not be forced to pick between seeing Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles (appearing as a WTMD Emerging Artist at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson) on Eastern Avenue and Lucinda Williams (appearing at the Ram's Head Live) at Power Plant Live, Market Place. Opened in December 2004, Rams Head® Live! features national acts in it's 26,000 square foot entertainment venue, featuring a 160 seat signature Rams Head Tavern, 5 bars, 3 food stations and 44 monitors and screens for watching. We will be seeing Sarah and the boys on September 21 at Cafe Nine in New Haven and Lucinda at Town Hall in NYC on October 4.

Yankees suck, Yankees suck, Yankees suck!...

Perhaps they do, Orioles fans, but we don't need you yelling reminders at us all the time. In Baltimore for a few days to catch the Yankees/Orioles at Camden Yards, but haven't gotten tickets for Saturday night's game yet. Working hard on it. Ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Inner Harbor yesterday. Why, you say? Bad food, tacky atmosphere - bad choice. In the meantime, saw Joe Torre (with trainer Steve Donahue) at Barnes & Noble in the Inner Harbor area around noon today. Reet/Kathy would rather have had a Jeter sighting.




We are dining pre-game tonight at Amicci's (thanks to the headsup from Kyle/Jen) in the Little Italy section of Baltimore. Visited it earlier in the day on our informal Heritage Walk. Photo here is of the setup across the street from Amicci's for the weekly neighborhood movie. American Graffiti was tonight's offering.




G-Man favorite Talib Kweli appears tonight at Sonar on E. Saratoga.

Etta James hospitalized in Los Angeles (AP)....

Etta James was in stable condition Thursday after being hospitalized for complications from abdominal surgery she had last month, her manager said. The 69-year-old blues singer was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. "Her condition is stabilized" but she had to cancel upcoming tour dates with B.B. King and Al Green, her manager, Lupe De Leon, said in an e-mail. De Leon did not indicate when James was admitted but said the hospitalization was caused by "post-op complications" from her mid-June surgery. The complications and the nature of the surgery were not specified.

The Grammy Award-winning singer was "extremely disappointed" at having to cancel appearances, De Leon said. "If it had been left solely up to her, she would have checked herself out of the hospital and started the tour regardless of her delicate health," De Leon said. "However, her doctor advised that were she to do so, it would put her at very great risk." "We feel confident (that) by postponing her participation until Aug. 23, she will be in good shape to put on the kind of performance that Etta James' fans know and love," De Leon said.

During her 50-year career, James has scored a string of hits that include "At Last," "Trust in Me" and "A Sunday Kind of Love."

Bristol oldies guru Jim Kane demands your input.....

The old farts at "Rusty Records" have been commissioned to make a 4 CD set entitled "High School Dances". The songs will be from the Golden era of Rock N Roll music. I need your help in choosing the songs. Please send me your top 5 all time songs from 1955-1965. There will be 120 songs on this set. To top it off I will be able to get you this set for below wholesale. The set will be selling in the stores and the internet for $60.00 plus shipping. I will be able to get this set for $20.00 plus shipping. So - help me out - please send me your top "5" all time songs, from your high school dances , during 1955-1965. I'll let you know when the set will be available. So put on those thinking caps, and send me your top 5!!!!! Thanks, Jim - email

Okay, Johnnyk was a keen sideline observer at said high school dances, only occasionally daring a silent slow dance. Here are my five from 1960-64 (I won't say best, rather memorable for various frivolous reasons):

Louie, Louie (Kingsmen)

Fingertips Pt II (Little Stevie Wonder)

Cathy's Clown (Everly Brothers)

Shop Around (Miracles)

Tossin' and Turnin' (Bobby Lewis)
Another 5:

Sugar Shack (Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs)

It's My Party (Leslie Gore)

Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke)

Baby, It's You (Shirelles)

Maybe (Chantels)

Can't trust that day...

Gator's got your granny: Tony Joe White, who put on my favorite show at JazzFest this year, turns 64 today....Band Southern Culture On The Skids pays tribute to White in their 1996 song "Voodoo Cadillac" (arguably the best listening song ever recorded for cruising, with your baby of course, in a 2002 Champagne DeVille) with the first stanza lyric: "Come on baby, take a ride with me / Up the Mississippi, down to New Orleans / Tuck and roll, FM stereo / Got some Tony Joe White on my radio". Here's a youtube video of TJW at JazzFest this year:

The Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series continues tonight at Bushnell Park in Hartford with the Kelly Sheppard Quintet opening at 6pm followed by the Paul West Quintet at 7:30pm.

Book her, Johnny.....

UPDATE: Just booked orchestra seats for the 10/4 show at Town Hall, NYC for the Lucinda Williams album (Keith's favorite) concert. This album produced three hits for other artists:

Passionate Kisses (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Crescent City (Emmylou Harris)

Changed the Locks (Tom Petty)

Really cool!

Oh, that crazy Lucinda!...

Lucinda Williams' unique concert plan (Newsday.com)
Lucinda Williams on Friday unveiled plans for an unusual string of shows in New York and Los Angeles this fall. The Grammy winner will play five concerts -- Irving Plaza on Sept. 29 and 30 and Town Hall on Oct. 2, 3 and 4 – in New York, focusing on a different one of her first five studio albums each night. After she performs the album in its entirety, she will play a second set of material taken mainly from her latest album "West" (Lost Highway) as well as the rest of her career.

The NYC breakdown:
9/29 NYC (Irving Plaza) - "World Without Tears"
9/30 NYC (Irving Plaza) - "Essence"
10/2 NYC (Town Hall) - "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"
10/3 NYC (Town Hall) - "Sweet Old World"
10/4 NYC (Town Hall) - "Lucinda Williams"

Ticket info from her website:
Tickets for all Los Angeles shows at the El Rey are $35 and will go on sale on Saturday, July 21 at 10am PST. Tickets for the New York City shows on September 29 & 30 at Irving Plaza are $50. Tickets for the October 2, 3 & 4 shows at Town Hall are $65 and $45. NYC tickets will go one sale on July 21 at 1pm EDT. All tickets will be available through Ticketmaster and tickermaster.com.

Concert review: Attitude, talent enthrall crowd (Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
(July 20, 2007) — Lucinda Williams crept in on cat paws, slow and languid, in the heat of the Main Street Armory. Three songs into the show, 20 seconds into the lovely and passive "Lonely Girls," she suddenly stopped. Three thousand, two hundred people were chattering away, creating that aquarium-like mall sound that had made Charlie Louvin's set a half-hour earlier sound like he was the opening act for a cattle auction.

"Lonely Girls" was forgotten. Set list was tossed aside. "This reminds me of growing up in the Delta," the Louisiana native said of the sweaty room, and she and the band leaped into a rocking version of her suicide epic "Pineola," which she hadn't planned on playing. Then the pining lover of "Those Three Days" — both of those songs drop a snarling f-bomb — and she had the attention of the cavernous room. - complete review

Some live Lucinda:

Hartford Festival of Jazz this weekend....

Friday - Festival Website
MAIN STAGE

6:00pm Opening ceremonies

6:15pm Jimmy Greene

8:00pm Steve Davis, with the premiere of "The Hartford Suite"

Saturday
FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL'S ARCH STAGE

1:00pm Paul Fuller Group

2:00pm Jerrod Cattey Trio

3:00pm Dana Lauren

10:30pm Jazz Dance Party
MAIN STAGE

4:30pm Bradley Leighton

6:00pm Joyce Cooling

7:30pm Pamela Williams

9:00pm Gerald Albright

Sunday
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, 45 Church St.

10:00am Jazz Mass, Ross Tucker's Hot Cat Jazz Band
FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL'S ARCH STAGE

1:00pm Theresa Wright

2:00pm Jovon Alexandre

3:00pm Doug Maher
MAIN STAGE

4:30pm Esteban Arrufatt

6:00pm Barbara Fowler

7:30pm Kevin Mahogany and the Kansas City Review

Martha, My Dear.....

Martha's neighbor writes protest song (AP)

KATONAH, N.Y. - Like many wars before it, the one between Martha Stewart and some of her Westchester County neighbors has inspired a protest song. Written by Katonah resident Marc Black, the song takes aim at Stewart's attempt to trademark the village's name for use on a line of furniture and home products. That idea has outraged many residents, who say that no one should own the name "Katonah," and some American Indians, who say the name is taken from a beloved 17th-century tribal chief. "The bottom line is, I'm just hoping, I think we all are, that Martha will hear the song," Black said in a video posted on The Journal News Web site. - complete article

July is sawtelle birthday month....

End of month email info from The Sawtelles:

Sat 21st: javapalooza w/ the awesome duo Zoo Front (they now have a myspace page so check them out!) music starts at 7pm with us kicking things off. we'll trade off sets til 10pm....free and all-ages and plenty of stuff there for sale to put in your mouth. bring some tip money if you've got some extra coins rolling around in your car.

Fri 27th: Hope out loud coffeehouse in hartford at la paloma. donation at the door to benefit the CT coalition for peace and justice. Things kick off at 8pm with open mic and featured performers.

Sat 28th: BIG BIG BIG BIG show at La Hacienda corner of water/olive in new haven. 8pm and last month it was free. see starting at 8pm: Sawtelles/poptelles then Victoria's Secret Sauce (big al howard's fab project) and ending the nite will be the Presidential Targets!!! The show really starts at 8 because the dance party starts at 11 and they want us indie pop freaks finished up by then.

Sun 29th: Edgewood park farmer's market. 12pm. free. All sorts of veggies/flowers/meats and other goodies to buy from local vendors. Edgewood park is over in the westville section of new haven.

Check our myspace sites for updated gig listings and listen to our new projects if you haven't heard them yet. myspace.com/thesawtelles/poptelles/schoolsafetypatrol/primatenemistnightmare/sawtelles

Monday night at Bushnell Park....

With the Yankees' playoff fate in the capable hands of The Reet (beware Kei Igawa), I cruised the 15 minutes to Hartford on a perfect Summer evening for the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series in Bushnell Park. No problem parking, found an on-street spot opposite the Capital Avenue exit and it is a short climb over the hill to the park. The concerts are held at the western end of Bushnell Park on the lawn that tumbles down the hill from the State Capitol building. A wonderful venue. A permanent bandshell has been constructed for concerts, a far cry from the makeshift stages of the New England Fiddle Contests of yore, which were held over at the east end of the park near the skating pond. The annual Blackeyed & Blues Festival is also held here each June sponsored by, you guessed it, Blackeyed Sally's BBQ & Blues

I arrive after the Lummie Spann Quartet's opening set, so I stake my space on the hill with my everyone's-got-one-of-these foldup chair and amble down to the stage to snoop around. The weather is magnificent, the setting sun blinding. Pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi's Quartet featuring Lew Tabackin is the headliner this evening (interestingly, on the Berkeley Agency website the ensemble is the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Quartet). They are married. I catch the members hanging out on the south side of the stage as the announcements are made. Wellness Center, CDs for sale, sponsor Prudential Financial, tee shirts, upcoming concerts. Showtime.

A jazz lover, not a critic, I will spare you the minutiae, but the husband-wife duo intermittently trade solos, she precise and darting, he more free-form, a very enjoyable listen when mixed with their rhythm section of bass/drums. Loved Tabackin's bluesy tenor on Akiyoshi's tribute to Charles Mingus. Monday night jazz, treat yourself. Bring a friend, a picnic, a bottle of wine, good conversation, a book. See you there. - Hartford Courant review

The Toshiko Akiyoshi Quartet featuring Lew Tabackin.

View from the north end of the stage back up the hill toward the Capitol.

Ms. Akiyoshi being interviewed between sets on WWUH radio,
which broadcasts the Monday night series live at 91.3 FM.

Zero Tolerance...and that means YOU!.....

It's a band and it's a principle. The band Zero Tolerance will be playing at the Downtown Cafe in Bristol, CT on Saturday, August 4. Your absence will NOT be tolerated. I'm trying to post a pic of the band, but can't get any off of their MySpace page, so the hell with them!

0T is Jon Savage, Terrance Woodrow Williams, Jim Peproni, Billy the Kid, Troy Claypool and cite Randy Rhodes, Randy Jackson, Randy Johnson, Randy Travis, Randy Randy, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Rick James Bitch!, My left foot, Adam Viniteri, Matt Lane, Gavin Rossdale, Ice-T, Mickey Mouse, Calvin Klien, & Blossom Russo as influences.

In an exclusive interview at the annual Baseball League of America summer meetings, lead singer Jon Savage admitted that, although his bandmates are "good peeps," he's slumming a bit creatively. Savage would like 0T to tap his deep reservoir of original material, but the others opt for "covers crap." He quipped, "I am the straw that stirs the 0T drink."

The Intolerance Tour will take them to the Farmington Avenue Restaurant in Kensington on September 8.

Sounds like a Lucinda Williams song....

Culpepper’s rings true with Louisiana palates by NATHANIEL GLEN (THE GAZETTE)

The owners of Culpepper’s Louisiana Kitchen are so legitimately Louisiana that their backstory sounds like a Lucinda Williams song: born in Lake Charles, raised in a small Cajun town, met up in Baton Rouge on the road to New Orleans, settled down on the shore of Pontchartrain. The food has that same Williams flavor: sassy, smart, Southern, sometimes sweet, sometimes fiery and always more than you’d expect. In a word, it’s great.

But to put it to a real test, you need more than a critic who’s about as Southern as maple syrup. So I called some friends, Jeanne and her daughter Crystal, who were born and raised in New Orleans and planned to stay there, until Hurricane Katrina put 8 feet of water in their living room and they got on a bus to Colorado Springs. “Oh, mama, look, they got po’ boys! I haven’t had a po’ boy since we left,” Crystal said when we sat down in one of the booths at the modern but homey stripmall dining room. - complete article

Live music abounds.....

Dr. John at Meadowbrook Park in Hamden on Friday night.

Some truly great free jazz at Bushnell Park this Monday night. Pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi's Quartet featuring tenor saxophonist Lew Tabackin as part of Paul Brown's Monday Night Jazz Series. Apparently Prudential Financial has provided some life-saving backing for the long-running summer program.

An email heads up for some good music from Trish (The Dish) friend Steve G:

Couple of musical head’s ups. Next Friday (July 20) at Café Nine I am going to try and go see Eilen Jewell who I mentioned before. She’s great and worth seeing. I’ve seen her before there. If you go to her website you get a quick musical introduction to her sound. Next day actually up in Greenfield Mass is a very nice music festival called Green River Festival. Details on their website. I went to this last year. Impressive. I am also thinking of going to this as well but plans for both this and Eilen are still uncertain. Thought you and Johnny K would be interested. One show I’m definitely going to (a whole group of my friends as well) is Alejandro Escovedo up at the Iron Horse on August 4.

JK note: James Hunter appearing at Greenfield Fest

For your morning moment of Zen....

The Boys of Blue Hill & John Ryan's Polka

Powerful Cat....

Johnnyk (the younger) and friend Tall Dan ventured over to the Avalon Ballroom in Boston to see Cat Power (Charlyn "Chan" Marshall) with Dirty Delta Blues Sunday night and reports a wonderful performance by The Fidgety One. JFK says that she started the performance with The Greatest, from her addictive, same-titled album, but then ventured off to other, eclectic material, some of which possibly came from her previous recordings which include Dear Sir,1995/ Myra Lee,1996/ What Would the Community Think,1996/ moon Pix, 1998/ The Covers Record,2000/ You Are Free,2003). JFK is not so familiar with Cat's catalog that he can identify the evening's playlist, however. During band solos, Ms. Power, according to Tall Dan, sneaked offstage to pet her dogs. (ed. note: I procrastinated sufficiently to miss tonight's show at the Pearl Street in Northampton)

REVIEW- Boston Herald
Feral Cat Power shows off her soulful side by Christopher John Treacy/ Music Review

Known for strumming deceptively simple compositions as a one-gal show, Cat Power (Chan Marshall) wowed listeners last year with "The Greatest," an unexpected, striking set of Memphis soul originals. After an interim trek with the 11-piece Memphis Rhythm Band, she’s now working with a new quartet, Dirty Delta Blues, and the smaller setting allows room for her limited but expressive pipes to flourish. In tight jeans, pink T and fingerless gloves, Power bounded onto Avalon’s stage Sunday night with a massive iced coffee and a giddy look of wonderment, launching into the disc’s woozily seductive title track. Gleefully swishing from side to side, she wove tracks from "The Greatest" between an oddball shuffle of unlikely covers, revealing her musical personality best with idiosyncratic interpretations of the latter.

Fueled by organist Gregg Foreman, Power zapped Sinatra’s familiar "New York, New York" of any Broadway glory, morphing it into something sly, shady and sinister: It slapped a whole new slant on the line about wanting to "wake up in the city that never sleeps." Her bluesy whisper gave Billie Holiday’s "Don’t Explain" necessary gravity, while her Dirty Delta ensemble pumped barroom humidity into Kitty Wells’ "Making Believe" and Otis Redding’s "I’ve Been Loving You Too Long."

Flat Duo Jets vet Dexter Romweber opened with a set of his signature punkabilly, bolstered by his sister’s fantastic drumming.

Busy artist!...

Prince plays 3 shows in his hometown (AP)

Prince thrilled his hometown fans with three shows over 12 hours, only stopping when police shut him down early Sunday. The Minneapolis native first performed Saturday at a department store to promote his new cologne, cramming nine songs into a 45-minute set. He then played that night at the Target Center arena. He capped the night with a return to First Avenue, the club he made famous in the movie "Purple Rain."

"Minneapolis, I am home," the Purple One declared after the first song at the department store. Minnesota's governor and the Minneapolis mayor issued proclamations honoring Prince, and fans flew in from all over the country to see the performer. After the Target Center, Prince waited until nearly 2:45 a.m. before starting the First Avenue show, the first time he had played at the club since 1987. The city lets music play until 4 a.m.

He was 15 songs and 70 minutes into a 24-song set when he announced from the stage: "The authorities say we gotta go. We always listen to the authorities. I promise I'll be back."

300 and counting down!

Johnny Gumbo emails us a reminder that we have but 300 days 'til JazzFest 2008!

While you're pondering that, here's Amy Winehouse doing an acoustic version of You Know I'm No Good. - click

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, George W, Sly Stallone & Johnnyk....

Oh, and I thought they were. Thanks, Georgie.

Also born on July 6:
1747 - John Paul Jones
1921 - Nancy Reagan
1925 - Bill Haley
1935 - Dalai Lama
1976 - 50 Cent

Dr. John coming to Meadowbrook (where Gool got his only hole in one!).....

Hamden Arts Commission in partnership with Quinnipiac University presents its 2007 free summer concert series. The series will include concerts on five consecutive Fridays at Town Center Park at Meadowbrook Park, 2761 Dixwell Avenue. Concerts begin at 7:30 pm. Families are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and pack a picnic. This year’s exciting lineup is as follows:

Friday, July 6: Herb Reed and The Platters and The Five Satins

Friday, July 13: Dr. John

Friday, July 20: Jay Black (of Jay & the Americans)

Friday, July 27: Original Family Stone (where's Sly?)

Friday, August 3: The Glenn Miller Orchestra

Look what turned up...

Since I was in Northampton on business, I dared a quick luncheon trip to Turn It Up. The cache:

Anything Can Happen (Leon Russell)

Soul of the Tango (Yo Yo Ma)

Mingus (Joni Mitchell)

Heroes Are Hard To Find (Fleetwood Mac)

Into the Blues (Joan Armatrading)

Greatest Hits (Johnny Rivers)

Get Inside (Johnny A)

Email from Ryan: Says Sarah needs your help....

Hey folks!

First, an introduction - my name is Ryan, and over the next few months I'll be getting in touch with you with updates as Sarah Borges makes her way around the country in support of her new album, Diamonds in the Dark. If I'm not mistaken, each of you, at some point in your life, signed up for Sarah's mailing list... and I have been given the responsibility and honor to keep y'all up to date on things. I look forward to hearing from you guys as well!

As you all may know, Sarah just released her second album, and her first with Sugar Hill Records. If you haven't had a chance to pick one up yet, you can do so here (it's also on iTunes of course). It's been getting rave reviews from Americana-type outlets and magazines, and her live performances are getting more and more hype as she moves across the country. I hope that some of you have been able to catch up with Sarah and the band -- or are planning on seeing them sometime soon. If you've seen them before, you won't argue with me when I tell you that it is quite an experience.

The people getting this email are, no doubt, Sarah's greatest and most loyal fans... and she and the boys need you. Throughout the coming months, the band will be performing in areas that have not yet been plowed over by the Broken Singles freight train. We really want to pack these venues to capacity, which requires a joint effort between all of us at Sugar Hill and all of you enlightened souls around the country. Over the next months, I will be shamelessly begging you guys for help in turning people onto Sarah as she comes to perform in your area. Now, now, don't hit that "unsubscribe" link just yet -- I will keep it to a respectfully low number of emails, probably one every 4 to 6 weeks.

"Help" in this case means a couple of things -- first and foremost, attending the show, and bringing friends. For each tour stop, we'd also love to have a couple of motivated superfans who would be willing to put up some posters around town and distribute some fliers to your favorite local establishments. In most cases, this "boots on the ground" aka "grunt-work" aka "free labor" will earn you a coveted guest list spot for the show, as well as the satisfaction of purveying the crowd at the packed concert with the knowledge that "I made this happen."

Now, the dates. Here is the upcoming tour leg, through mid-August. We really need helpers for the tour stops listed in bold:

7/3/2007 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
7/5/2007 - Salt Lake City, UT - Twilight Concert Series
7/6/2007 - Seattle, WA - Westlake Park
7/7/2007 - Courtenay BC, CAN - Vancouver Island Musicfest
7/8/2007 - Courtenay BC, CAN - Vancouver Island Musicfest
7/10/2007 - Portland, OR - Dante's
7/11/2007 - San Francisco, CA - 12 Galaxies
7/13/2007 - Reno, NV - Rollin' on the River
7/14/2007 - Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst
7/15/2007 - Los Angeles, CA - The Mint
7/18/2007 - Denver, CO - Soiled Dove
7/22/2007 - Nashville, TN - 3rd and Lindsley
7/25/2007 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café
7/26/2007 - Rochester, NY - Big City Summerfest
7/27/2007 - Rochester, NY - Big City Summerfest
7/28/2007 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
7/29/2007 - Baltimore, MD - Creative Alliance at the Patterson
8/2/2007 - Manchester, NH - Thursday Night Live
8/10/2007 - Arlington, VA - Iota Club and Café
8/11/2007 - Piermont, NY - Turning Point
8/12/2007 - Fall River, MA - Fall River Celebrates America

As you can see, she's performing a number of dates between now and the 14th, but it's a bit too late to arrange posters and fliers for those -- however, word-of-mouth grassroots turnout is still definitely essential for every show on this list. Let's do everything we can for Sarah during this important tour! Just drop me a line at ryanb@sugarhillrecords.com if you're interested. I shall look forward to hearing from each and every one of you!

In other news, you can still enter the fabulous contest that Sugar Hill is offering -- your own personal house party with Sarah and the Broken Singles providing the musical entertainment! The winner is to be chosen at random on 9/28/07. For more details, and to enter the contest, check the Sugar Hill Website.

Well, folks, thanks for reading that whole thing. That's enough out of me, for now...

Keep cool everyone!

Ryan Baker, Sugar Hill Publicity Coordinator

I think it was the 4th of July....

A history of metal icons: The Rick Cheney Experience...

Rising from the bowels of Washington, DC, The Rick Cheney Experience exploded onto the metal scene in 1988 with their debut album, Some call me Richard, but I'm really a Dick. The band's latest album, I'll fool you dumb bastards as long as I want to, layers Rick Cheney's larger-than-life snarls with biting guitar solos to cook up a disc overflowing with spine-tingling classics. With standout tracks like "Cheney's got a gun," the music of The Rick Cheney Experience appeals to metal fans and non-metal fans alike.

Courtesy of Bumbershoot Band Bio Generator - try it!

Yakety sax, don't talk back....

Sax player Boots Randolph dead at 80 by Joe edwards (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Boots Randolph, a saxophone player best known for the 1963 hit "Yakety Sax," died Tuesday. He was 80. Randolph suffered a cerebral hemorrhage June 25 and had been hospitalized in a coma. He was taken off a respirator earlier Tuesday, said Betty Hofer, a publicist and spokeswoman for the family. Randolph played regularly in Nashville nightclubs for 30 years, becoming a tourist draw for the city much like Wayne Newton in Las Vegas and Pete Fountain in New Orleans.

He recorded more than 40 albums and spent 15 years touring with the Festival of Music, teaming with fellow instrumentalists Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer. As a session musician, he played on Elvis Presley's "Return to Sender," Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Round the Christmas Tree" and "I'm Sorry," REO Speedwagon's "Little Queenie," Al Hirt's "Java" and other songs including ones by Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash.

He had his biggest solo hit with "Yakety Sax," which he wrote. "'Yakety Sax' will be my trademark," Randolph said in a 1990 interview with The Associated Press. "I'll hang my hat on it. It's kept me alive. Every sax player in the world has tried to play it. Some are good, some are awful." "Yakety Sax" was used on the TV program "The Benny Hill Show" more than two decades after the tune was on the charts.

"It rejuvenated the song," Randolph said in 1990. "So many people know it from the show." He also was part of the Million Dollar Band on the TV show "Hee Haw." Randolph was born Homer Louis Randolph in Paducah, Ky., and grew up in the rural community of Cadiz, Ky., where he learned to play music with his family's band. He said he didn't know where or why he got the nickname "Boots," although his Web site at the time of his death suggested it was to avoid confusion because he and his father shared the same first name.

Randolph began playing the ukulele and then the trombone, but switched to the tenor sax when his father unexpectedly brought one home. He graduated from high school in Evansville, Ind., then joined the Army and became a member of the Army Band. After his discharge, he played primarily jazz at nightclubs for $60 a week. He finally landed a recording contract with RCA in Nashville in 1958 and also was hired as a musician for recording sessions.

Randolph had his own nightclub in Nashville's Printer's Alley for 17 years, closing it in 1994 because of declining business and to spend more time with his family. He played regularly at other nightclubs before and after that. He had lived in Nashville since 1961. Randolph charted 13 albums on the pop charts from 1963 to 1972. His other single hits included "Hey, Mr. Sax Man" in 1964 and "Temptation" in 1967. "Every time I pick the horn up, it's more intriguing to me," he said in 1990. "It satisfies my desire to do whatever I do."

"I think I probably get better because I work so much," he said at the time. "You get to a point where you can be lackadaisical or nonchalant. But I'm not like that. I worry if I play a tune bad or my horn is not working right." Survivors include his wife, a son, a daughter and four grandchildren.

TV listings of note....

7/2 Mon - Arctic Monkeys on Conan O'Brien
7/3 Tue - Lucinda Williams on Leno
7/6 Fri - Tom Waits on Conan O'Brien